Kajsa Ollongren


. Karin Hildur "Kajsa" Ollongren is a Swedish-Dutch politician serving as second Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 14 May 2020 and Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations in the Third Rutte cabinet since 14 April 2020. She is a member of the Democrats 66 party.

Personal life and education

Kajsa Ollongren was born on 28 May 1967 in Leiden to Jonkheer Alexander Ollongren, a Dutch East Indies-born astronomer and computer scientist, and his Swedish wife Gunvor Lundgren. Ollongren is a Finnish-Swedish noble family which was incorporated into Dutch nobility in 2002, thereby giving her the noble predicate jonkvrouw. Ollongren grew up in Oegstgeest where she attended the secondary school Rijnlands Lyceum between 1979 and 1985. She then went to the University of Amsterdam, where she initially studied economics between 1985 and 1986, but switched her field of study in 1986 to history, in which she obtained an M.A. degree in 1991. She subsequently studied public administration at the École nationale d'administration in Paris and foreign relations at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael.
Ollongren is married to Irene van den Brekel and they have two children.

Career

Civil service

Ollongren started her career in the civil service at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, becoming a policymaker in the area of Central and Eastern Europe there in 1992, in which capacity she trained young political parties of the newly established democracies in the area. She was head of parliamentary affairs within the ministry until 2001, and director of European Integration and Strategy from 2001 to 2004, and became Deputy Director General of the ministry in 2004. In 2007, she moved to the Ministry of General Affairs, the department headed by the Prime Minister, becoming Deputy Secretary General. She became Secretary General of the ministry in 2011.

Local politics

After the 2014 local election, in which the Democrats 66 became the largest party of Amsterdam and entered the city's government, Ollongren became an alderwoman and second deputy mayor in Amsterdam, taking office on 18 June 2014. Her portfolio as alderwoman was extensive, including economic affairs, seaport, airport, participation, art, culture, local media, monuments and the city centre. On 18 September 2017, the city's mayor Eberhard van der Laan announced in an open letter to the people of Amsterdam that he would step back from his public responsibilities due to ill health, leaving Kajsa Ollongren to exercise these responsibilities in his stead from 19 September onward. The day after his death, on 6 October, Ollongren became acting Mayor of Amsterdam.

Minister of the Interior

On 26 October 2017, Ollongren was appointed as Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations in Mark Rutte's third cabinet, succeeding Ronald Plasterk. She also became the second of the cabinet's three Deputy Prime Ministers, serving alongside Hugo de Jonge and Carola Schouten. From 1 November 2019 to 14 April 2020 she was on medical leave of absence.